This week has been pretty crazy. We had exchanges on Tuesday with the Sisters in Pleasanton and I got to go down there with Sister Montgomery (my MTC companion) and see all of my old friends. It was so wonderful to use Spanish again and also to spend a day with one of my best friends. :) I truly love this work and seeing it make a difference in the lives of others, investigators, missionaries, and less active members alike.
We also had MLC which is Mission Leadership Council which includes all of the Sister Training leaders, Zone leaders, and Assistants to the President, and the Mission President of course. We learned about grace and also about how Christ truly is our Savior. We also practiced giving correction to other missionaries so that when we go on exchanges we can correct any behavior that is not consistent with our call. I was glad to practice that as I know I am not always very good at giving correction constructively. I feel more confident now in doing that and inspiring others to be and do better instead of making others feel guilty.
Also we had an awesome experience with Daniel who has recently come back to activity. He went up to bear his testimony at the end of fast and testimony meeting. He said he was grateful for one of the members, whose name is Ali (haha cool huh), and also us sisters for helping him out. He said that before coming back he was perfectly content with never coming back into the church or even the church building. He was invited by Ali to come to institute one day and he thought originally "I know this mormon-trickery" and he asked why she wanted him to go. She said that she just wanted to invite him cause she cared. He felt like that was a legitimate reason so he went. He didn't last two minutes in the building and he grabbed his stuff and left. But that got him started on his journey back. He is the one that came to stake conference and felt the confirmation that Heavenly Father loves him. We had dinner with him this last week and he said that he was doing good not drinking anymore and also that he saw a CES fireside of Ted Callister's called "The Blueprint of the Church" and it really helped. So all of this is just the background to him going up and sharing his testimony yesterday. At the end of his testimony he started to cry and said that he knows that Heavenly Father loves all of us. I talked to him afterward and he said that as he said it out loud it felt even more real. This guy's story will always be close to my heart and I hope we can always be friends and stay in touch because he is amazing. He reminds me of Andrew because when he was in high school he was a punk rock kid and did some dumb stuff haha. Whenever I talk to him I think of Andrew and how someday he will come back. Someday he will know, like Daniel knows, that Heavenly Father loves him. I start to get emotional when I think about it because I am so grateful for the miracles that Heavenly Father has done in Daniel's life and it makes me hopeful for Andrew.
We started to teach a young man named Jonathon this week (isn't it funny how past investigators' names keep popping up again? haha) and he has such a big heart. He used to work on the church's air conditioning so he has been inside our buildings before but only for maintenance haha. He came to church yesterday and seemed to be trying to soak it all in. He loves to draw and is great at it. He also plays the guitar and the piano and used to be a band producer (I think? or a director? something like that) so I told him when I have a band after the mission that he can help us out haha.
I sang in MLC, they asked me to do a musical number during lunch again haha. This is the second time that I have been asked during lunch to sing to open the next half of the meeting. So I sang "Come Unto Jesus" The words touched me as I sang them and I knew that the words applied specifically to specific people in the room. I don't know who exactly or which words specifically helped them but I felt a strong feeling that some of the words were helping someone individually.
I know that the Savior lives. I know that the Book of Mormon is true without a doubt. I know that Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet and that this is the last dispensation before the coming of the Lord. The Book of Mormon testifies to me that God loves each of us.
I love you.
Hermana Ally Hopkins
No comments:
Post a Comment